Network service aware routers, and applications thereof

ABSTRACT

In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method provides a service on a network. The method includes the following steps: (a) requesting, on a router, executable instructions from a remote server, the executable instructions specifying how the router is to operate to provide a service requested for a user of the network; (b) receiving the instructions; (c) initializing, on the router, a thread to execute the received instructions; (d) determining that a configuration of the router has changed; and (e) when the configuration of the router is determined to have changed, executing, on the initialized thread, the instructions to apply the service in accordance with the change in the router&#39;s configuration.

BACKGROUND Field

This field is generally related to network configuration.

Related Art

A communication network may, for example, provide a network connectionthat allows data to be transferred between two geographically remotelocations. A network connection may span multiple links connectingcommunication devices such as routers. Networks may have differenttopologies depending on how the links are interconnected through thecommunication devices. Given a particular network topology, multipleroutes may be available between a source and destination.

A service provider may configure a communication network to providenetwork services, such as a connectivity service. A service provider maymaintain a connectivity service at a particular service level, such as aspecific level of bandwidth, latency, or jitter. For example, a user mayrequest an Ethernet connection between two of its locations with abandwidth of 400 Mbit/second.

To configure a communication network to provide a network service, aprovisioning server may send configuration messages to routing devicesalong the route of the network connection. The configuration messagesmay, for example, instruct the routing devices on how to route the dataor of a service level to provide in transmitting from a particular useror through a service.

To add or make changes to a network service, a service provider networktypically uses an inventory database. The inventory database tracksdifferent users, their associated network services, and the routingdevices used to provide the network services. When a new service isadded to the inventory database, a provisioning server may pushconfiguration messages to associated routing devices in the inventorydatabase. When an existing service is modified, for example, to change aservice level, the provisioning server may look to the inventorydatabase to determine which routing devices to send messages to. In thisway, a central provisioning server and inventory database typicallydetermine which routing devices need to be configured.

While having a central provisioning server determine which routingdevices to configure may have advantages, it can also createbottlenecks. It may cause delay in provisioning the service. Also, therouting devices may be heterogeneous and having the provisioning serverconfigure a variety of different types of devices may lead to additionalcomplexities.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In an embodiment, a computer-implemented method provides a service on anetwork. The method includes the following steps: (a) requesting, on arouter, executable instructions from a remote server, the executableinstructions specifying how the router is to operate to provide aservice requested for a user of the network; (b) receiving theinstructions; (c) initializing, on the router, a thread to execute thereceived instructions; (d) determining that a configuration of therouter has changed; and (e) when the configuration of the router isdetermined to have changed, executing, on the initialized thread,instructions to apply the service in accordance with the change in therouter's configuration.

System and computer program product embodiments are also disclosed.

Further embodiments, features, and advantages of the invention, as wellas the structure and operation of the various embodiments, are describedin detail below with reference to accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form partof the specification, illustrate the present disclosure and, togetherwith the description, further serve to explain the principles of thedisclosure and to enable a person skilled in the relevant art to makeand use the disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system for providing executable services torouting devices, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a routing device of the system in FIG. 1 ingreater detail, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method for provisioning a new service to aswitch, according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method for changing a switch's configuration,according to an embodiment.

The drawing in which an element first appears is typically indicated bythe leftmost digit or digits in the corresponding reference number. Inthe drawings, like reference numbers may indicate identical orfunctionally similar elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As described above, having a central provisioning server and inventorydatabase orchestrate network services can cause delay and complexity. Todeal with this, embodiments here allow routing devices to learn ofservice changes dynamically without an orchestration process.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system 100 for providing executable services torouting devices, according to an embodiment. System 100 includes aservice provider network 106 that connects two user sites: user site 102and 104.

In one example, each user site 102 and 104 may be a customer's locationand the customer may request that service provider network 106 provideconnectivity between the two locations. Service provider network 106 maybe a local area network (LAN), metropolitan area network (MAN), or widearea network (WAN). It may utilize any point-to-point ormultipoint-to-multipoint networking protocols. The network accessprotocols used may include, for example, Multi-Protocol Label Switching(MPLS), Ethernet, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), High-Level Data LinkControl (HDLC), or Packet Relay.

Service provider network 106 includes a plurality of routing devices,such as routing devices 120, 122, and 124. Routing devices 120, 122, and124 are sometimes for convenience referred to here as routers. Therouting devices, or routers, are interconnected by links. For example,routing devices 120 and 122 are connected by a link 130. The routingdevices are devices that forward packets, including devices at the datalink layer (Open Systems Interconnection layer 2) and the network layer(Open Systems Interconnection layer 3).

On receipt of a packet, a routing device may determine which link toforward on based on the router's own configuration, for example therouter's routing table, and characteristics the packet, such as thepacket's destination address. As described above, in typical systems,changes to this configuration are done through a central orchestrationsystem. For example, a user may schedule a bandwidth increase for a timein the future. When the orchestration server determines that scheduledtime occurs, the orchestration server would send instructions to therouting devices changing their configuration to allow for the bandwidthincrease. In this way, the orchestration server would execute thefunctionality describing how to provide the network service change.

In embodiments disclosed here, this functionality of determining how toprovide the network service would occur not on the orchestration server,but on the routing devices themselves. In particular, routing devices120, 122, and 124 each have a process running that specifies how toimplement the service: processes 140, 142, and 144 respectively. Theprocess, or daemon, may run its own thread of execution within itsrouting device. It may execute certain functionality when new traffic isreceived belonging to a particular user or being assigned to theservice. Further, it may execute certain functionality when aconfiguration change is on the server. Still further, it may executecertain functionality periodically, regardless of the traffic received.In this way, embodiments enable the routers themselves to implementnetwork services.

But, having the routing devices execute the functionality to implementthe network services still may not obviate the need for some external,remote server. In particular, system 100 includes a network controlserver 110 that the routing devices 120, 122, and 124 communicate withto load their respective service processes 140, 142, and 144. Tocommunicate with routing devices 120, 122, and 124, network controlserver 110 may be included in or coupled with service provider network106.

Network control server 110 includes a provisioning module 114 and aservice module 112. Provisioning module 114 maintains a list of serviceprovider network 106's subscribed users and associated services. When arouting device detects traffic belonging to a new user, the routingdevice may send a message to network control server 110, which in turnforwards it to provisioning module 114. In response the message,provisioning module 114 may query a memory, such as a database (notshown), that maps data identifying a particular user (such as a sourceaddress or subnet) to associated services. Then, provisioning module 114may send the results of the query back to the routing device that madethe request. The response may identify each of the services that theuser is subscribed to.

When the routing device receives the list of services, it may sendanother message to network control server 110, which this time forwardsthe request to service module 112. Service module 112 may include arepository listing all the services provided by service provider network106. For each service, the repository may include an executable fileincluding instructions on how the routing device is to operate toprovide the service. The executable file may be, for example, acompiled, binary executable file or an un-compiled script. In responseto the request, service module 112 may retrieve executable files forrequested services and return them to the routing device. While servicemodule 112 and provisioning module 114 are shown here on a single serverfor clarity, they may also be implemented on separate servers.

On receipt of the executable files, the routing device may initialize athread for each service. The thread provides the functionality of therequested service.

FIG. 1 identifies the processes 140, 142, and 144 with differentreference numbers because they are running on different routing devices.But, each of the processes 140, 142, and 144 may be an instantiation ofthe same executable file retrieved from service module 112. Thatexecutable file may specify functionality for the entire service andeach of routing devices 120, 122, and 124 that participate in providingthat service. But, even though processes 140, 142, and 144 may beexecuting the same service executable file, they may have differentfunctionality. In particular, the service executable file may specifydifferent functionality for different routing devices. On startup, aprocess may check the routing device's configuration to identify thedevice and execute functionality that the executable file specified forthat particular device.

In one example, the user may subscribe to a service that collectsmetrics regarding the user's network traffic. Conventionally, toimplement the service, an orchestration server would, using itsknowledge of the routing devices involved in the user's traffic,periodically send requests to the routing devices querying them formetrics. However, in an embodiment disclosed here, processes 140, 142,and 144 may collect data and provide it as specified by the subscribedservice.

In another example, the user may subscribe to a dynamic capacity servicethat changes a particular service level over time. The change may be ata scheduled time or the change may be in response to network conditions.For example, if a particular usage metric (such as bandwidthutilization) exceeds a threshold, the service may change a policer onthe router to allow more bandwidth for the connection. Conventionally,orchestration server would monitor the time or network conditions andsend instructions to the routing devices when the scheduled time ornetwork connections are met. However, in an embodiment disclosed here,processes 140, 142, and 144 running on the routing devices themselvesmay determine when the appropriate time occurs or when the conditiontriggers using the router's configuration information (such as itsconfigured time or utilization information). When the process determinesthat the appropriate time occurs or condition triggers, the processchanges the routing device configuration to provide a new service levelin accordance with the subscribed dynamic capacity service.

In some embodiments, multiple processes 140, 142, and 144 maycommunicate with each other to form their own service network 150, whichis a group of routers that work in concert to provide the service. Toestablish service network 150, at least one of the processes 140, 142,and 144 may discover which other routers participate in providing theservice. One of the processes may take a leading role and broadcastdiscovery messages to identify which others are participating in theservice. Or, the processes may treat each other as peers and exchangepackets identifying neighboring routing devices that are involved inproviding the service.

For example, processes 140, 142, and 144 may communicate with each otherto discover how to forward data through service network 150. Eachprocess may learn the routing devices' neighbors and communicate thatinformation to other routers in service network 150. For example,process 144 may learn router 124's neighbors by looking at itsconfiguration information. From the configuration information, process144 may learn that router 144 is connected to user site 104 through aport 162. Then, process 144 may communicate that information to router122 and its service process 142. In turn, service process 142 may send amessage to router 122 and service process 140 indicating that it canreach user site 104 through router 144. Using that reachabilityinformation, the routers can forward data through the service network.For example, when service process 140 receives traffic from user site102 destined for user site 104, service process 140 can route thetraffic to routing device 122, which in turn can route the trafficthrough routing device 124 to user site 104. By discovering a servicenetwork in this way, processes 140, 142, and 144 can cooperate to routetraffic in accordance with a subscribed service without the need for anorchestration server to send routing instructions to each routingdevice.

In addition to using the service network to route traffic from a sourceto a destination, the service network can also load balance betweendifferent routes from the source to the destination. For example,suppose routing device 126 in FIG. 1 was part of the service network150. For example, process 140 may discover the service network topology(e.g., by broadcasting discovery packets as above). From that topology,process 140 may determine that multiple paths connect user site 102 anduser site 104. In particular, when router 120 receives data from usersite 102 destined for user site 104, process 140 can determine whetherto route data to router 122 or 126, both of which lead to user site 104through router 124. To balance traffic across the network, process 140can make that determination based on utilization information fromrouters on the respective paths, perhaps collected and transmitted toprocess 140 by the other service processes themselves. Alternatively,process 140 can balance traffic between the paths using round-robin orother ways as a skilled artisan would recognize.

In this way, embodiments move the functionality of providing a servicefrom an orchestration server to a routing device. An example routingdevice is illustrated in FIG. 2 in greater detail.

FIG. 2 is a diagram 200 showing routing device 120 in greater detail.Routing device 120 includes a kernel 204.

Kernel 204, as known in the computing arts, is the routing device 120'soperating system. It is a computer program that manages input and outputrequests from software, and translates them into data processinginstructions for the central processing unit and other electroniccomponents of the routing device. It also manages the various concurrentthreads of execution on routing device 120.

Stored on routing device 120 is a configuration file 202. Configurationfile 202 may have knowledge of all the different users that subscribe toservice provider network 106, or at least all the different users thatsubscribe to services that utilize router 120. For example,configuration file 202 may indicate that a particular port of router 120belongs to a particular user. In diagram 200, router 120 for example hasports 220, 222, and 224. Port 220 is connected to a network at user site102. And configuration file 202 may associate port 220 with a userhaving the network at user site 102. In other examples, routing device120 may recognize that data belongs to a particular user by examiningits source address. In that example, configuration file 202 may have asource address or range of source addresses (such as an InternetProtocol subnet) that is associated with each user.

In one embodiment, an administrator may define aspects of configurationfile 202. In other examples, configuration file 202, or portionsthereof, may be loaded from network control server 110 by, for example,a service loader process 210 on router 120. Router 120 or kernel 204 maybe configured to initiate service loader 210 on startup. Once initiated,service loader 210 queries network control server 110 for the list ofcurrent users. Service loader 210 may also query network control server110 periodically to check for updates in the list of current users. Asdescribed above with respect FIG. 1, when service loader 210 detects anew user, it may first query network control server 110 for a list ofservices that the user subscribes to and then again query networkcontrol server 110 for executable files corresponding to the services.

Once the executable files are received at router 120, kernel 204 orservice loader 210 may initiate them as service daemons 208. Each ofservice daemons 208 is a process as described with respect to FIG. 1that implements functionality to execute a service. To execute theservice, service daemons 208 may, for example, listen for changes toconfiguration file 202. In response to changes, service daemons 208 maywrite additional changes to configuration file 202, for example toupdate the router's routing table, or other configuration information,to implement the service. In some embodiments, service daemons 208 mayalso listen for incoming traffic and be notified when traffic meetingcertain conditions, such as originating from a certain address, isreceived.

This architecture is flexible in that services may be updatedautomatically. Service daemons 208 may detect when changes are neededand report to network control server 110 to access updates. For example,service daemons 208 may detect if its router 120 is no longer connectedto other routers in a service network and report to network controlserver 110 to update the installed services as needed.

In addition, because the service functionality is decentralized, it ismore resilient. For example, in conventional systems, a singleprovisioning server may be responsible for the orchestrating servicesacross the network. Should that provisioning server go down, much of theservices on the service provider network may be inoperable until abackup is in place. Effectively, a single provisioning server creates asingle point of failure. But, when the routers implement the servicesthemselves and a router goes down, only the services provided by thefailed router may be affected. In this way, the routers are made moreautonomous, and the network is made more resilient.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a method 300 for provisioning a new service toa switch, an according to an embodiment.

Method 300 begins at step 302 when router 120 determines that the useris newly connected to the network. This step may occur, for example,when router 120's configuration file is updated to reflect that a newuser has subscribed to the service provider network. The configurationfile may be updated by an operator or by, for example, a provisioningsystem acting in response to an order from the user.

At step 304, router 120 sends a request querying a remote server, inparticular network control server 110, for a list of services that theuser subscribed to. In response to the query, network control server 110looks up the services and sends information identifying the servicesthat the user subscribed to back to router 120 at step 306.

On receipt of information identifying which services the user subscribedto, router 120 determines which service executable files it needs. Forsome of the services, router 120 may already have a copy of theexecutable file and may even already have the a service daemon running.For those that it does not, router 120 sends another request to networkcontrol server 110 at step 308. This request identifies the services.Network control server 110 may determine that to provide this service tothis user, this router does not need to run any executable file. But ifit does determine that the router needs to run an executable, networkcontrol server 110 returns an executable file for each of the requestedservices.

On receipt of the executable files, routing device 120 initializes aprocess for each of the received executable files. With the processesrunning, they can participate in providing network services. To providethe network service, the processes may listen for changes in therouter's configuration, as illustrated in FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method 400 for changing a switch'sconfiguration, according to an embodiment.

Method 400 begins at step 402 when kernel 204 detects a change in therouter configuration. When kernel 204 detects a change in the routerconfiguration, it notifies any daemons listening for the change at step404, in this case daemon 208. The notification may, for example, occurasynchronously through a callback function that kernel 204 calls when aparticular change occurs. In another example, daemon 208 mayperiodically check the router configuration for changes.

On receiving the notification, daemon 208 executes the functionalityspecified in the executable file to provide the service. For example, ina dynamic capacity example, the router configuration would include dataon the user's bandwidth utilization and daemon 208 would be notified ofa change in that utilization level at step 404. At step 406, daemon 208would check to see if the utilization level meets a condition, such as athreshold, and, if it does, it would alter the router configuration tochange a bandwidth limit associated with the user.

As mentioned above, daemon 208 can provide in a wide variety ofservices. In examples above, daemon 208 could provide a networkconnection (such as an Ethernet e-line), collect network metrics,provide dynamic capacity, and provide route determination and loadbalancing. Other services could also be provided by daemon 208. Forexample, daemon 208 could provide an artificial neural network,compression, firewall, intrusion detection, or wide area network (WAN)acceleration.

As mentioned above, various service processes running on differentprocesses may communicate with each other to form a group of routersthat together participate in providing a service. In examples above, thegroup of routers can work together to provide route determination andload balancing. Other services that the group could provide may betraffic switching, re-routing (for example, in response to congestion ora failed component), and collection of aggregated metrics reflectingutilization of the entire router group.

Each of the devices and modules in FIGS. 1 and 2 may be implemented inhardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof.

Each of the devices and modules in FIGS. 1 and 2 may be implemented onthe same or different computing devices. Such computing devices caninclude, but are not limited to, a personal computer, a mobile devicesuch as a mobile phone, workstation, embedded system, game console,television, set-top box, or any other computing device. Further, acomputing device can include, but is not limited to, a device having aprocessor and memory, including a non-transitory memory, for executingand storing instructions. The memory may tangibly embody the data andprogram instructions. Software may include one or more applications andan operating system. Hardware can include, but is not limited to, aprocessor, a memory, and a graphical user interface display. Thecomputing device may also have multiple processors and multiple sharedor separate memory components. For example, the computing device may bea part of or the entirety of a clustered or distributed computingenvironment or server farm.

Identifiers, such as “(a),” “(b),” “(i),” “(ii),” etc., are sometimesused for different elements or steps. These identifiers are used forclarity and do not necessarily designate an order for the elements orsteps.

The present invention has been described above with the aid offunctional building blocks illustrating the implementation of specifiedfunctions and relationships thereof. The boundaries of these functionalbuilding blocks have been arbitrarily defined herein for the convenienceof the description. Alternate boundaries can be defined so long as thespecified functions and relationships thereof are appropriatelyperformed.

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fullyreveal the general nature of the invention that others can, by applyingknowledge within the skill of the art, readily modify and/or adapt forvarious applications such specific embodiments, without undueexperimentation, without departing from the general concept of thepresent invention. Therefore, such adaptations and modifications areintended to be within the meaning and range of equivalents of thedisclosed embodiments, based on the teaching and guidance presentedherein. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminologyherein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, suchthat the terminology or phraseology of the present specification is tobe interpreted by the skilled artisan in light of the teachings andguidance.

The breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited byany of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be definedonly in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for providing aservice on a network, comprising: (a) requesting, on a router,executable instructions from a remote server, the executableinstructions specifying how the router is to operate to provide aservice requested for a user of the network; (b) receiving theexecutable instructions; (c) initializing, on the router, a thread toexecute the received executable instructions; (d) determining that arouter condition related to the router has changed, the determining (d)including (i) receiving updated information describing a usage metricassociated with the user; and (e) when the router condition related tothe router is determined to have changed, executing, on the initializedthread, the executable instructions to apply the service in accordancewith the change in the router condition related to the router, theexecuting (e) including: (ii) determining whether the updatedinformation satisfies a condition, and (iii) updating a configuration ofthe router to change a service level associated with the user based onthe usage metric.
 2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein thereceiving the updated information (i) comprises: (iv) receiving updatedinformation describing an amount of bandwidth traffic associated withthe user, and wherein the updating the configuration of the router (iii)comprises: (v) updating the configuration of the router to change anamount of bandwidth allocated to the user as the service provides. 3.The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the determining (ii)comprises: (iv) determining whether the updated information indicatesthat the usage metric associated with the user exceeds a threshold. 4.The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the determining (d) comprises:(iv) determining that a scheduled time has occurred; and wherein theexecuting (e) comprises: (v) updating the configuration of the router tochange the service level associated with the user based on the scheduledtime.
 5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising: (f)determining, on the router, that the user is newly connected to thenetwork; and (g) when the router determines that the user is newlyconnected, querying the remote server for the service the usersubscribed to.
 6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:(f) before the requesting (a), determining, on the router, that the useris newly connected to the network; (g) when the router determines thatthe user is newly connected, querying the remote server for the servicethe user subscribed to; and (h) receiving, from the remote server,information identifying the service the user subscribed to, wherein therequesting (a) comprises: requesting the executable instructions fromthe remote server, the executable instructions specifying how the routeris to operate to provide the identified service.
 7. A non-transitoryprogram storage device tangibly embodying a program of instructionsexecutable by at least one machine to perform a method for providing aservice on a network, said method comprising: (a) requesting, on arouter, executable instructions from a remote server, the executableinstructions specifying how the router is to operate to provide aservice requested for a user of the network; (b) receiving theexecutable instructions; (c) initializing, on the router, a thread toexecute the received executable instructions; (d) determining that arouter condition related to the router has changed, the determining (d)including (i) receiving updated information describing a usage metricassociated with the user; and (e) when the router condition related tothe router is determined to have changed, executing, on the initializedthread, the executable instructions to apply the service in accordancewith the change in the router condition related to the router, theexecuting (e) including: (ii) determining whether the updatedinformation satisfies a condition, and (iii) updating a configuration ofthe router to change a service level associated with the user based onthe usage metric.
 8. The program storage device as recited in claim 7,wherein the receiving the updated information (i) comprises: (iv)receiving updated information describing an amount of bandwidth trafficassociated with the user, and wherein the updating the configuration ofthe router (iii) comprises: (v) updating the configuration of the routerto change an amount of bandwidth allocated to the user as the serviceprovides.
 9. The program storage device as recited in claim 7, whereinthe determining (ii) comprises: (iv) determining whether the updatedinformation indicates that the usage metric associated with the userexceeds a threshold.
 10. The program storage device as recited in claim7, wherein the determining (d) comprises: (iv) determining that ascheduled time has occurred; and wherein the executing (e) comprises:(v) updating the configuration of the router to change the service levelassociated with the user based on the scheduled time.
 11. The programstorage device as recited in claim 7, wherein the method furthercomprises: (f) determining, on the router, that the user is newlyconnected to the network; and (g) when the router determines that theuser is newly connected, querying the remote server for the service theuser subscribed to.
 12. The program storage device as recited in claim7, wherein the method further comprises: (f) before the requesting (a),determining, on the router, that the user is newly connected to thenetwork; (g) when the router determines that the user is newlyconnected, querying the remote server for the service the usersubscribed to; and (h) receiving, from the remote server, informationidentifying the service the user subscribed to, wherein the requesting(a) comprises: requesting the executable instructions from the remoteserver, the executable instructions specifying how the router is tooperate to provide the identified service.
 13. A computer-implementedmethod for providing a service on a network, comprising: (a) requesting,on a router, executable instructions from a remote server, theexecutable instructions specifying how the router is to operate toprovide a service requested for a user of the network; (b) receiving theexecutable instructions; (c) initializing, on the router, a thread toexecute the received executable instructions; (d) determining that arouter condition related to the router has changed by determining that ascheduled time has occurred; and (e) when the router condition relatedto the router is determined to have changed, executing, on theinitialized thread, the executable instructions to apply the service inaccordance with the change in the router condition related to therouter, the executing (e) including updating a configuration of therouter to change a service level associated with the user based on thescheduled time.
 14. The method as recited in claim 13, furthercomprising: (f) determining, on the router, that the user is newlyconnected to the network; and (g) when the router determines that theuser is newly connected, querying the remote server for the service theuser subscribed to.
 15. The method as recited in claim 13, furthercomprising: (f) before the requesting (a), determining, on the router,that the user is newly connected to the network; (g) when the routerdetermines that the user is newly connected, querying the remote serverfor the service the user subscribed to; and (h) receiving, from theremote server, information identifying the service the user subscribedto, wherein the requesting (a) comprises: requesting the executableinstructions from the remote server, the executable instructionsspecifying how the router is to operate to provide the identifiedservice.
 16. A non-transitory program storage device tangibly embodyinga program of instructions executable by at least one machine to performa method for providing a service on a network, said method comprising:(a) requesting, on a router, executable instructions from a remoteserver, the executable instructions specifying how the router is tooperate to provide a service requested for a user of the network; (b)receiving the executable instructions; (c) initializing, on the router,a thread to execute the received executable instructions; (d)determining that a router condition related to the router has changed bydetermining that a scheduled time has occurred; and (e) when the routercondition related to the router is determined to have changed,executing, on the initialized thread, the executable instructions toapply the service in accordance with the change in the router conditionrelated to the router, the executing (e) including updating aconfiguration of the router to change a service level associated withthe user based on the scheduled time.
 17. The program storage device asrecited in claim 16, wherein said method further comprises: (f)determining, on the router, that the user is newly connected to thenetwork; and (g) when the router determines that the user is newlyconnected, querying the remote server for the service the usersubscribed to.
 18. The program storage device as recited in claim 16,wherein said method further comprises: (f) before the requesting (a),determining, on the router, that the user is newly connected to thenetwork; (g) when the router determines that the user is newlyconnected, querying the remote server for the service the usersubscribed to; and (h) receiving, from the remote server, informationidentifying the service the user subscribed to, wherein the requesting(a) comprises: requesting the executable instructions from the remoteserver, the executable instructions specifying how the router is tooperate to provide the identified service.